We had Twenty-Eight players for Standard this last Wednesday at the Shuffle & Cut Retail store in Orange County, CA. Because so many people showed up for our largest midweek tournament to date, we upgraded the random give-away to a Nissa, Worldwaker! Dillon Baca, the lone Esper Control player, as well as Noe Farias (playing G/B Devotion) both managed perfect 4-0's and were rewarded with $28 store credit each. We had seven 3-1 players who each earned $14 store credit. Interestingly enough, despite some archetypes seeing plenty of play, all nine top finishers were playing different decks.

After four rounds of swiss play, only Bant Superfriends remained undefeated at our recent 110% Standard Tournament. Seventeen players showed up to play for the 110% payout and participate in the randomized giveaway of an Ajani, Mentor of Heroes. Steven Brown only managed a 2-2 record this week playing Mono-Black Devotion despite going undefeated two weeks in a row. That winning streak was brought to an end during round one where Brown was matched against Paul Sunukjian playing Bant Superfriends (eventual winner of the tournament). The metagame looked to slow down a little this week with 5 out of 6 top finishers playing Mid-range or dedicated control. What theories do you have about this shift? As always, feel free to add to this information!

Here at the Shuffle & Cut Retail Store in La Habra, Ca (that's in northern Orange County), we recently started hosting weekly 110% Tournaments. The idea was to change things up a little bit from our normal daily style events where everybody gets a pack for playing, and offer events where the prize payout to top finishers is substantially higher than that of a Friday Night Magic tournament.The way it works is that if there are $100 worth of entry fees (20 players at $5 each), top finishers would split $110 worth of store credit. In addition we will raffle off a card relevant to the format of the tournament each week at the start of round two. That way, even if you are having an off day, there's still a chance to prize out! For example our first 110% standard tournament on July 2nd we raffled away a Thoughtseize and at our second tournament on July 9th we raffled away an Elspeth, Sun's Champion.Here's the breakdowns for both July 2nd and July 9th. I'm especially curious to see over the coming months if the metagame differs from our more casual FNM and Saturday Showdown tournaments.

Thirty-Five players competed last Friday, June 27th in Standard Friday Night Magic (FNM) at Shuffle & Cut Retail. Taking a look at the field, Red was by by far the most popular color, playing some role in nearly half the decks. I grouped RDW style decks with more mid-range decks for the deck breakdown as in standard they end up being somewhat similar. Two out of the three U/W/R players went undefeated as did the sole B/W Mid-Range player. Both our undefeated players from last week finished with 3-1 records, piloting the same decks they took the top spots with previously (G/W Aggro & Mono-Black Devotion). How does this metagame compare to the rest of Orange County?

Cameron Law on Selesnya AggroWhy did you choose to play what you did at FNM?I like both white and green and the version of Selennya I'm playing fits my more aggressive play style.How well is your deck positioned in the meta at Shuffle & Cut?Selesnya does well in the environment at Shuffle, though it can have problems against certain control match-ups like American or Esper Control.What decks do you like or dislike to play against?I love playing against Mono-Black because the games are always very close and are interactive the whole match. I dislike playing against control; Its often too hard to get ahead.What is the best card in your deck?Brimaz! Vigilance is great and keeping up my creature count is a must in most match-ups.

Steven Brown on Mono-Black DevotionWhy did you choose to play what you did at FNM?I got bored of Mono-Blue Devotion so I switched to Mono-Black.

How well is your deck positioned in the meta at Shuffle & Cut?Poorly....there are a lot of burn decks at FNM that are hard to deal with.

What decks do you like or dislike to play against?I personally hate playing against burn as Mono Black Devotion but like going against Green Devotion because my removal is live.

What is the best card in your deck?Thoughtseize is the best card in the deck. The knowledge it grants allows me to sculpt out a better game plan.

On Friday June 20th, 2014, 31 players showed up to compete in the Standard Friday Night Magic (FNM) Tournament at the Shuffle & Cut Retail store in Orange County, CA. After four rounds of play, two players remained undefeated and seven others finished with a record of 3-1. Here is the list of top players and what they played, followed by a complete metagame breakdown by archetype. Notice that although technically only one person brought mono-black devotion, there were two other MBD decks, one splashing white and one green. Also, it can be difficult to draw the line between what makes something aggro and what is better described as a mid-range deck. Enjoy!